Bellamy and Atwood

Paper Summary:

The paper relates that these novels were written more than a century apart, yet both authors take a similar approach by speculating about the society of the future in order to comment upon the failures of his/her contemporary society. The paper discusses the content of both novels. The paper notes that the vision by Bellamy is more hopeful about what the future might bring, while the pessimism of the Atwood novel derives in part from the fact that it is set in the future and so shows a belief that the problems of the present may only get worse.

From the Paper:

"Edward Bellamy's Looking Backward was written in 1887 during the period of American industrialization, at a time when the cities were becoming more crowded, labor conditions were deteriorating, populations were shifting from rural to urban areas, crime was increasing, and other ills were being visited on society. The story tells of a man who, like Rip Van winkle, falls asleep and wakes years later to find himself in a new world, and he then looks back to his own era to see how forces in his time produced the world he finds himself in more than a century later--indeed, in our own time, the year 20000. The central character is Julian West, a young man from Boston who sleeps for 113 years. The world he experiences can be considered Bellamy's utopian ideal."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. New York: Ballantine, 1985.
• Bellamy, Edward. Looking Backward. New York: Amsco School Publicatons, 1990.

More papers on Bellamy and Atwood:

• Analytical Essay # 139832 : "Isolation in Melville and Atwood"
• Essay # 90965 : "Marlatt and Atwood: Women in Society"
• Analytical Essay # 130175 : "Religion in Margaret Atwood's "Cat's Eye"

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